ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Last Night! Lights Out!]

This piece is pretty busy throughout, and it's hard to make out the kick and snare, which should ostensibly be the loudest elements in the mix.

I would recommend paring down sections before hitting your "drops" so speak, so that they have more opportunity to shine. There's a theory I latched onto from House of Kush that goes something like, for each section, instead of adding one new thing, add two, and/or take two away. It really helps me to focus on the important elements of the track at hand and not get too bogged down in details that might confuse the listener.

Besides that, interesting theme!

[Corazon]

I agree with @Noltrollroll. The accordion is QUITE loud at times, taking away from my enjoyment of what is otherwise a lovely and well mixed piece! Compositionally, this is fantastic. Impressed at the quality of live recorded parts, as well.

[In Humanity We Trust]

This piece is really nostalgic to me. Takes me back to 90s videogames, hi tech dungeons, and wave after wave of low polygon baddies that somehow felt more real than they do now, looking back.

Very interesting piece, made all the more compelling for its minimalism. Wish I could hear that arp uninterrupted for hours.

[Charming Times]

This track is about as clean as you'll ever see in the world of indie EDM. Happy to see people are still making music like this. Very nostalgic.

[Hit 'Em]

Bring the drum shells up in the mix, and this will slap. At present, it's like what the band sounds like standing beside the guitarists' monitors ;P

Nice guitar tone, prompt idea, and overall theme!

[austice]

Very nice choice of textures throughout. I only wish the foley shshhshshshsh droning were a bit quieter, and there were a tad less reverb. Initially, the instrument balance threw me off. I expected the piano to be a little clear. The combination of the above made the mp3 feel like it was low bit rate, until the very end. So that was a little odd to experience!

[Retrostalgia]

I'm not quite following the story, due to the style of mixing on the vox, but that doesn't make this any less a vibe.

My singular complaints revolve around balance and EQ -- hard to point out due to such hard compression on the master -- I think it's just a bit too brick walled. What's telling is how much more open the mix feels at 2:16 when slowed down and pared down a bit. Your high frequencies and sub bass are washing out on your drops as a result of going too hot into that level of master comp, imo. Maybe some of the blame can also be placed on bit-crush. Sue me -- but as much as I love bit-crush, it's hard to work with!

Paring back some dB on reverb and delay low end, dropping up to a dB off of instruments here and there, and even panning pad layers a bit left and right can help with this perception. The latter, I notice you've done quite a bit of for leads and rhythmic layers. I would make it a bit more extreme.

EQ wise, I want to hear more of your low mids and mids in general. 2:09 and 2:35 are much better balanced. Listen to how that transition opens up, bringing those freqs in. Without them, even though the bass is just as full at 1:38, it just doesn't hit quite as hard!

But that said, I love the style of production. Bringing this project back from the grave was certainly the right decision.

[Zif0o - Jacaranda]

You can remove the silent ending via Audacity prior to submitting ;)

Certainly an interesting piece, particularly the atmosphere from all the guitar textures.

I think the hihats are way too high in the mix though, relative to the kick, bass, and other percussive instruments.

I'd like to hear more panning around from your perc at 2:15. It feels very widenized but not very present in the center as a result. These are phasing issues caused by artificial stereo widening. A plugin like widefire may get around this by only widening harmonics of the signal, opposed to the dry signal.

By all means, keep experimenting in this vein though. Has to be one of the most interesting pieces I've heard from you!

Great work :)

[endifendifendifendifendif]

Very digestible. Bonus points for that scorching solo, plus a masterful blending of multiple styles typically associated with 80s/90s anime and VGM music.

[Rolling SpeakerBeat2 🔈🔊łāžÿ]

The raw square really holds this track together. Just something about it is magic. Nice chord progression and interesting choice of instruments. I like this version better.